A Work of Art
by cheeky-squirrel
Summary: Fred is indulging his creative side, and Hermione is curious. Written for the Twin Exchange's October Challenge! Rating to be safe.


_Written for the Twin Exchange October Challenge!_

_Prompt: Jack-o-Lantern | Pairing: Fred/Hermione | Quote: "It's all… squishy."| Theme: Halloween_

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, then Hermione and Harry would have ended up together and Fred wouldn't have died. Also, the Weasley twins would have their own spin-off series.**

**A Work of Art**

"Fred?"

"Ahhhh, if it isn't my favourite bookworm! How can I help you, Hermione?"

Hermione looked at Fred apprehensively, as if she couldn't decide whether to ask her question or not. And she couldn't decide—after all, she was rather afraid of what the answer may be. Fred was sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and had made a sort of screen that denied visibility to anyone on all three free sides. It was sort of like a rectangular "U". Fred was doing something that he didn't want anyone else to see, and that was never good news.

"What… What are you doing?" she asked, her curiosity finally getting the better of her.

"It's Halloween, isn't it? I'm making a Jack-O-Lantern," Fred replied cheerfully. Hermione looked scandalized.

"Did you steal that pumpkin from Hagrid's garden?" she asked.

"Yes. What does it matter? He had almost twenty there!" Fred returned to his carving.

"Well, can I see it?" Hermione asked. Fred shook his head and made a "nah-uh" noise.

"It's not finished yet."

"As long as it's not inappropriate, I suppose," Hermione said with a sigh. Fred wiped his face with his hand and turned to the girl, still keeping his work carefully hidden.

"Hermione," he started, in a tone more serious than she'd ever heard him use before. "When have you ever known me to be appropriate?" Hermione groaned and pressed her hand to her eyes. She hadn't thought of that.

"Oh, Merlin, help me," she muttered. When she took her hand away she found Fred still looking at her, an amused look on his face. That wasn't all that was on his face. She tried to stifle a giggle and failed.

"Oh, Fred, you've got… you've got pumpkin on your face," she said. And so he did. Pumpkin was streaked across his cheek, clashing with his red hair. He frowned and wiped at his face, missing the pumpkin entirely. Then he missed it again. And again.

"Oh, let me," Hermione said when she stopped giggling. She stood in front of him and wiped off the pumpkin, trying to catch a view of the Jack-O-Lantern. Fred noticed.

"Now, now, Miss Granger," he chided. "No peeking. You must wait until the masterpiece is completed before you may view it." Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Masterpiece, eh?" she asked. "How long will it take?"

"You can't rush art," Fred replied as he turned back to his pumpkin. "Don't worry, Hermione, it's not offensive. Well, not dirty, at least."

There really was nothing Hermione could do, so she sat a little further along the table and propped a book up against a bowl of chips. Every so often, she would flick her glance towards Fred, whose face was now almost entirely covered in pumpkin. It was rather cute, actually, to see him concentrating so hard, his tongue between his teeth, his face covered in pumpkin. With a smirk Hermione shook her head to bring her back to reality. She soon realised that her reading was going nowhere, so she put her book away and stood closely behind where Fred sat.

"Nearly finished?" she asked in his ear, trying to sneak a peek. Fred turned to face her and shifted slightly so her attempt was foiled.

"Hey! I said no peeking," he mock-scolded. "My, my, Miss Granger, you're an eager one, aren't you? If I knew this would get your attention, I would have made a Jack-O-Lantern a long time ago." Hermione rolled her eyes as she pulled out her handkerchief and wiped Fred's face.

"How can it be so messy when you're using magic?" she asked. Fred moved his face slightly closer to hers.

"Maybe I did it on purpose. Because I knew it would annoy you," he suggested with a smirk. Hermione moved her face even closer to his.

"Maybe you should concentrate less on annoying me just for the sake of annoying me, and more on finishing your 'work of art'," she said to him. "They'll be preparing for the feast soon." Fred raised his eyebrow and moved so his face was barely a centimetre from Hermione's.

"Maybe I wasn't annoying you for the sake of annoying you. Maybe I knew it would make you touch my face," he said softly, his eyes flicking down to her lips then back up to her eyes. "And I _was_ concentrating on my work of art, until you started distracting me." Hermione raised an eyebrow of her own.

"I'm a distraction, am I?" she asked. Then her eyes widened and she leapt backwards a bit. "Wait… Why would you want me to touch your face?" Fred rolled his eyes and stood up, careful to shield his masterpiece from her eyes.

"Merlin, Hermione, considering you are supposed to be the brightest witch in school, you are rather dense, aren't you?" he asked. Hermione, offended, was about to object, before Fred's lips pressed down on her own. Once she got her head around what was happening, she slipped her arms around his neck and kissed back. They only broke apart when people started cheering.

"I like you, Hermione," Fred murmured. "Would you go with me on the next Hogsmeade trip? Like on a date?"

"I like you, too," Hermione replied breathlessly. "And yes, I'd love to."

"Good," Fred said, before prising Hermione's arms off of him. "Now, just one minute…" He turned back to his pumpkin and made a few adjustments before putting a candle in it and closing the lid.

"There!" he declared. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The pumpkin levitated off the table, and with each flick of Fred's wrist, it bobbed up and down. It looked like it was… Bouncing? Fred started moving towards the Slytherin table, still bobbing the pumpkin in front of him.

"Oi, Malfoy!" he yelled. Hermione was nonplussed, but then she saw the Jack-O-Lantern and she burst into laughter. It wasn't a face carved into the pumpkin and illuminated by candlelight, oh, no. It was a ferret. Every other non-Slytherin also began laughing. Malfoy looked up and saw the Jack-O-Lantern. His eyes widened in shock, and then narrowed as he pulled out his wand.

"_Confringo_!" he shouted, pointing his wand at the pumpkin. His aim was slightly off, but not enough. The spell hit the side of the pumpkin, and it exploded, most of the mush landing in front of Fred. The Slytherins were laughing now.

"Nooooo!" Fred cried as he fell to his knees behind what had once been the pumpkin. "My masterpiece!" Hermione stooped down next to Fred and put her hand on his shoulder.

"There, there," she said, and kissed him on the cheek. Fred prodded the pumpkin mush sadly.

"It's all… squishy," he said, and Hermione nodded. She kissed his cheek.

"Cheer up, Fred," she said. "You can always make a Christmas bauble."

_Fin_

A/N: This is my first attempt at a fic where Fred is the central character. What did you think? I know there's rather a lot of dialogue, and it seems a little bit wordy, but all in all I'm quite pleased with it.

Please leave a review!


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